


Splatoon: Agents of Inkopolis

by ExaltedIdiot (Acallaris)



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Embedded Images, Gen, Hero Mode (Splatoon), I'm too old for this shit, Octo Expansion DLC, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post Hero Mode, Post-Octo Expansion DLC, Technically Canon Divergence?, Turf wars, the fuck is up with these tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28530033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acallaris/pseuds/ExaltedIdiot
Summary: Inkopolis, a place many go when they want to make something of themselves. Many have their reasons for coming to Inkopolis, whether it's to become the Freshest Inkling (or Octoling) of them all or involve themselves in the entertainment industry. One thing is for certain though: Nobody goes to Inkopolis and thinking they're going to become a secret agent.
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

[July, 20XX] 

[3:30 PM]  
  
  
“Mmm…”

“*Tap* *Tap*”

“You silly little... rascal you… where do you think you’re going?”

“*Tap* *Tap*”

“Did you think you could… escape me: The Schwaffle Slayer?”

“*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*”

“You talk a lot of smack... for something in snacking range. Eh heh heh, that kinda rhymed-”

“*ZAP*”

“OWWWWW!”

The young Inkling girl who had been having a small adventure in her sleep was awoken by something shocking her shoulder. Now that she wasn’t being held a prisoner in the realm of dreams, she sat up and opened her eyes, only to be met with complete darkness.

“Why’s it so dark…?” The girl would ask and place her hands on her face, only then would she feel some kind of fabric. Despite this, it took her a full minute before the thought of taking the fabric off even entered her head. The Inkling girl would take the fabric off and stare at it, only to realize shortly after that it was a headband.

“Oh yeah, I stole this didn’t I?”   
  


The girl would stare at the headband before turning. “Sorry for taking your headband. You probably want this back, don’t you Suimin-”

When Shiina turned, she expected to see another Inkling sitting right beside her. Instead, she found herself staring at a blue gelatinous creature wearing some kind of uniform.

“...You’re not Suimin.” She would state the obvious. “You’re the bus driver.”

The jellyfish would nod with its large round head and point at something. Shiina would follow the jellyfish’s tentacle, which pointed to a small electronic display that read the words, “Last Stop: Arowana Mall”.

“Arowana Mall…?” The girl read the words on the display and blinked. “Wasn’t… Wasn’t this bus supposed to take us to Inkopolis Square?”

The jellyfish would stare at Shiina.

“... What do you mean the bus already stopped at Inkopolis Square?!” The young Inkling shot out of her seat.

The jellyfish would continue to stare at Shiina.

“That’s impossible! Suimin said he would wake me up when we got to the square! Isn’t that right, Sui-”

Supposedly there was someone sitting next to Shiina. Yet, that person doesn’t appear to be present anymore. As a matter of fact, Shiina and the bus driver were the only ones on the bus.

“Did… Did he leave me?” Shiina would ask. “He… He did! He did leave me, that cod damn urchin!” And then proceed to answer her own question.

Never in her life has Shiina wished to harm someone with her own two hands up until this very moment. The Inkling had gone from sleepy and confused to angry and confused in a matter of seconds.

“Would you be able to take me to Inkopolis Square?” Shiina would plead to the bus driver. “Pretty please?”

The jellyfish would point at the display that still read the same message, all while continuing to stare at Shiina.

“Aww, but why not?! Can’t you make an exception?”

Its movements didn’t change, but its stare only intensified.

“But-”

The stare.

“Fine…” Shiina would give up. “Do you at least know how I could get to the Square from here?”

The jellyfish would lower its tentacle and raise the opposite. This time, it appeared it was pointing to some construction site.

“There’s a back alley near that construction site that should take me straight to the Square if I follow the path?” Shiina supposedly repeated what the Jellyfish had said to her as it shook its head. “Okay, got it!”

The Inkling would put back on the headband she was previously using as an eye mask—this time around her head. The girl would proceed to run out of the bus and into the direction of the construction site.

All while leaving the jellyfish bus driver alone in its bus, without as much as a thank you.

* * *

[4:10 PM]

After traversing what could be described as a conveniently placed obstacle course, which could also be interpreted as some kind of tutorial level in a video game, Shiina would use a launchpad waiting for her at the end of the back alley to super jump all the way to Inkopolis Square.

“I never want to see another balloon in my life…” Shiina would revert back to her Inkling form and shake off any slimy residue that was still on her from when she was a squid. Once done, the young Inkling would look ahead of her only for her mouth to agape seconds after. “Oh my Cod…”

Inkopolis Square, the new hub and gathering spot for young Inklings after Inkopolis Plaza fell into irrelevancy. Many have their reasons for coming to the Square, for some, it would be shopping or meeting up with friends, for others it would be going to the arcade or grabbing a bite to eat. 

For most though, they’re looking to be the freshest Inkling amongst their peers. And what better way to decide who’s the freshest of them all by competing for the title. Inkopolis Square is now the designated spot for those who want to compete in Turf Wars, a sport where two teams compete against each other to see who can ink the most turf within the allotted time limit (with some variations of course).

Seeing that it was the summertime, Inkopolis was much more crowded than usual. Most Inklings were off on summer break and would spend most of their days in Inkopolis Square doing whatever. With that being said, none of these Inklings paid any attention to the pink squid falling from the sky, if any did, they didn’t seem to find it odd in the slightest given what they are.

“It’s just like how it was in the magazines…!” A big wide smile would grow on Shiina’s face. “This doesn't feel real, no way."

The Inkling girl would take one step, and then another, and then another, before breaking into a jog and running around the entire Square.

* * *

From shops like Ammo Knights and Headspace to some recreational facilities like The Shoal, Shiina was taking in as much as she could. There were even some places that weren’t out in the open or didn’t get much traction such as a cafe called “Fishly Brewed” and a bookstore called “Tako’s Book Sea”.

Shiina was even taken aback by how different all the Inklings in the Square were. Never in her life had she seen others with such distinct features and unique fashion senses. The Inkling was so in awe that some other Inklings were a bit uncomfortable with how long she had been staring at them.

“ _There’s so much to see and do here, and this only a small part of Inkopolis!_ ” Shiina thought to herself as she walked around. “ _I’ll probably be lost forever if the rest of Inkopolis is like this!_ ” It didn’t sound like she was opposed to the idea though.

“Yo! You guys over there!” Shiina would see an Inkling boy run-up to a group of Inklings not too far from where she was “Sorry to bother ya, I wanted to know if ya could give me directions to Arowana Mall.”

“Sorry dude, we’ve got places to be right now. We don’t got the time to give some tourist directions.” One of the other Inkling boys apart of the group told the first boy before the group walked off. “Ask someone else.”

“Wait! Oh c’mon!” The boy let out a frustrated sigh. “Why the shell do they keep walking away?”

Shiina, who watched that entire event unfold, stared at the boy as if she knew him but wasn’t sure since she was looking from a distance.

“Suimin?” Shiina would call out seeing if that would elicit a response from the boy, and fortunately, it did. The boy perked up in response to the name and looked around until his eyes met with Shiina’s.

“Shiina?” The Inkling boy, now identified as Sumin, appeared shocked.

“Suimin!” Shiina would throw her hands up into the air and run towards him.

“Shiina!” Suimin would do the same and run towards Shiina.

Time would slow down as one would slowly run to the other with an ecstatic look on their face.

“Suimin!”

“Shiina!”

“Suimin…” Shiina would start to remember what had transpired a little over an hour ago.

“Shiina…?” Suimin started to notice a shift in Shiina’s tone and slowed down a bit.

“SUIMIN!” Shiina’s happy expression turned to one of malicious intent.

“OH SHIT!” Suimin, finally realizing that Shiina’s previous facial expression was but a ruse, turned and started running the other way.

What was thought to be a heartfelt reunion ended up turning into an endurance test as Shiina chased Suimin through the Square, back alleys, over and under objects for several minutes straight.

* * *

[2 Hours Earlier…]

“Now arriving at: Inkopolis Square.” A robotic voice would say through the bus’s intercom. “Please make sure you have all your belongings before exiting the bus..”

Suimin would have his face pressed up against the dirty, unsanitary, public bus’s window as it further approached the Square. “We’re finally here!” Suimin was as happy and excited as a child running to open their presents on Christmas day. “Can you believe it Shiina? We’ve finally made it to Inkopolis-”

“Zzzzzzzz…”

Suimin turned and looked at his friend, who was completely out cold. The pink Inkling had her mouth hanging wide open as she leaned against the window. Shiina had taken the liberty of stealing Suimin’s headband and using it as an eye mask when he wasn’t paying attention. By the time he had noticed, Shiina was already fast asleep—something that Suimin wasn’t going to disturb since he valued his life and he didn’t mind.

“Shiina, we’re here,” Suimin said but got no response from her. “Shiiiiiinnnnaaa, wakey wakey~” Suimin shook her.

“Mmm…” Would be her response.

“We’re in Inkopolis, Shiina! ” Sumin proudly announced. “You can sleep later! We’ve got a whole city to explore!”

“Mhm…”

Suimin would let out another sigh before giving another attempt at waking his friend up, but before he could do that, the intercom came on once again as the bus began to slow down. “We have now arrived at: Inkopolis Square. Please be mindful of other passengers while exiting the bus and once again make sure that you have all your belongings.” The robot voice spoke once more. “The bus’s next and last stop is: Arowana Mall.”

While some stayed seated, a majority of the passengers would begin to stand up and head to the front of the bus. The doors would soon open, and the same passengers began to exit the bus and head into the Square.

Suimin, unable to contain his excitement, would quickly grab two duffle bags underneath their seat and run out of the bus. The orange Inkling would take one step onto the pavement under him and would instantly become enamored with what stood in front of him.

“There’s no way we’re actually here right now, right?” Suimin would ask, not looking away from the Square. “Shiina, please tell me that we’re not just in some shared dream and that we’re actually here in Inkopolis.”

Nothing.

“Shiina?”

Still nothing.

Suimin would gain enough willpower to turn away and look around him. The pink Inkling girl that he traveled with was nowhere to be seen. “What the…?” He scratched his head. “Wasn’t she-”

Suimin came to a realization; a horrible one at that. The boy’s head would snap to the right as he watched the bus that took him to the Square drive off. “OH COD!” The Inkling’s soul had left his body right at that moment. “SHIINA!”

Despite it rarely working in movies and TV shows, Suimin made the decision to chase after the bus in hopes of catching up and getting it to stop. The orange Inkling only ran for a minute or so before realizing how pointless it was to run after a moving vehicle.

* * *

[Present Time]  
[5:40 PM]

“I then started asking everyone I saw if they could give me directions to the mall. Most of the guys I asked ignored me, told me they were busy, or gave me half-bassed directions.”

Shiina and Suimin could be seen sitting towards the back of the Square, where not a lot of people were. Suimin was trying to explain the events that lead to him accidentally leaving her on the bus while Shiina sat pouting with her arms crossed.

“Look, I’m really sorry, Shiina. I should have made sure you were awake instead of leaving you behind like that.” Suimin rubbed the back of his head. “Do you think you could forgive me?”

The two sat in silence for a moment. Shiina would see Suimin staring at her with an expectant look on his face and let out a short sigh. “Fine, but I’m still going to pout about it.” She would answer.

“Yes! Good enough for me!” The Inkling boy would pump his fist. “Actually, hold up.”

Suimin would reach into his one of his pockets and pull out his phone. Shiina would turn her head enough to see him tapping and swiping away at the screen, but so she also wouldn’t be directly looking at him.

“Just in time.” Suimin would whisper as a small smile would appear on his face. “Yo, Shiina. Follow me, I wanna show you something.”

“Hmm…” She was hesitating.

“It’ll be cool, I promise!” Suimin said. “It might even turn that frown of yours upside down.”

While she didn’t say anything, she did stand up and make a motion with her head that could probably be interpreted as “Lead the way.”

“Alright then!” Suimin jumped up and walked forward. Shiina would follow behind shortly after.


	2. Chapter 2

After a few minutes of walking, Suimin and Shiina would arrive at their destination. In front of the two would stand Inkopolis Square's main attraction: "Welcome to Deca Tower! The gateway to turf war!"

Deca Tower, as mentioned, is the designated spot for entering and participating in turf wars. Many Inklings who visit Inkopolis always find themselves visiting this tower at least once, regardless of whether they're committed to becoming a great turfer or not.

A handful of Inklings and a few Jellyfish were standing outside of the tower and conversing with one another (the Inklings, not the Jellyfish). When a few of those Inklings felt that they were ready, they would disappear into the tower — presumably to partake in a turf war.

"I've been dying to take part in one of these ever since I got off the bus!" Suimin would exclaim. "But then I left you behind on accident and… yeah."

"Hmph." Shiina still appeared upset.

"Oh come on, you still got that frown on your face?" Suimin asked her. "I was hoping the sight of this place would raise your mood, even if by a bit."

Shiina was justifiably mad, and Suimin understood that. The bus could've ended up taking her somewhere that wasn't so close to Inkopolis Square — heck, she could've ended up outside of the city altogether.

What Suimin didn't understand was why Shiina still looked angry. The squid boy apologized to Shiina—who had even accepted his apology—but opted to keep a pouty face on for whatever reason.

With all that, Sumin came to a conclusion:

" _Girls sure are complicated…_ " He would sigh.

Suimin would feel his phone vibrate in his pocket shortly after and check. His eyes would widen as he read the words that were displayed on his screen. "Oh crap! Slots are almost full." He would say with clear panic in his voice. "C'mon! We gotta hurry!"

"Slots? What slo-" Suimin would catch Shiina completely off guard and grab her wrist. Shiina wasn't able to respond in time before her friend dragged her off into the tower with him. "WAH! Suimin you're pulling too hard, cut it out!"

* * *

_Preparations end in: 4 minutes._

Suimin and Shiina would run into what appeared to be a locker room minutes later. Both Inklings appeared out of breath—Shiina more than Suimin. Shiina tried her best to keep up with Suimin, who had yet to explain what was happening.

Inside the locker room were two other Inklings who seemed to have good taste in fashion, well-maintained weapons, and overall decent gear. These two Inklings were far better equipped and prepared for turf wars as opposed to the other two Inklings who had just entered the room with them.

"Sorry we're late…!" Suimin huffed. "We kinda lost track of time, heh heh…"

The other two Inklings would look at Suimin and Shiina; one a girl and the other a boy. The girl Inkling was leaning up against the wall with some type of charger right beside her. The boy Inkling was sitting on his weapon, which was a slosher upon closer inspection.

"Well, whaddya know. I was starting to think that this was about to be some one-sided match." The charger Inkling spoke. "Hurry up and get your gear together; you've got less than two minutes."

"Yeah, we hear ya loud and clear…!" Suimin would start to breathe normally again.

The charger nodded before grabbing her weapon and walking off to some kind of area around a corner in the locker room and disappearing. The slosher Inkling would follow suit moments later.

"Wait a minute…" The gears in Shiina's small brain started to turn once she was able to catch her breath. "Suimin did… did you sign us up for a turf war?!"

"Uh… Yeah?" Suimin looked at Shiina as if she was supposed to know this. "You mean you didn't figure this out until just now?"

"Suimin!"

"Woah, woah! No need to get hostile!" The boy would raise his hands in defense. "Look, I know it's our first day here and all and we should probably be settling in and all that stuff, but what's the harm in one little game?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but you could've at least told me what was going on before dragging me in here!" Shiina frowned. "When DID you even sign us up for this?"

"This morning right after we got on the bus!" Suimin answered. "Oh, and I can probably guess what your next question is going to be; don't worry, I've got an answer."

Suimin would motion for Shiina to stay where she was and would run off somewhere. Moments later, he would come back with a roller slung over his shoulder in one hand, and a shooter in the other.

"Suimin, you signed us up for a turf war but we don't even have any weapons! Did you even think that through?" Suimin would go on to do a [terrible] impression of Shiina. "You big dummy, how could you forget something so important! Blah blah blah I'm so angry I could throttle you right now blah blah blah."

"I don't sound like that!" The Inkling currently being impersonated exclaimed before a look of uncertainty grew on her face. "... Do I?"

"Accurate or not, you were definitely going to ask that question next," Suimin smirked. "Which why I also took the liberty of renting out some weapons we can use for this turf battle."

Suimin would toss the shooter over to Shiina, who would catch and fumble with it for a moment. "That right there is the Splattershot Jr.; It fires pretty fast and doesn't take up too much of your ink—perfect for a beginner like yourself."

The Splattershot Jr. felt incredibly light in Shiina's hands. The squid girl wasn't able to tell whether it was intentional or if there was just something wrong with it.

"Meanwhile, I chose the Splat Roller!" Suimin seemed very proud of himself. "Not only does this baby have fairly decent stats, but it can cover turf faster than you can say "Fresh fried fish, fish fie-" Ow! Bit my tongue!"

Shiina sighed, only for her to start chuckling not too long after. When it came to anything that was related to turf wars, Suimin was almost always on top of things. Whether it was weapon descriptions, stage layouts, or battle strategies—nobody that Suimin knew could outmatch his knowledge of turf war.

With how big of a nerd and how passionate he is about the subject, Shiina couldn't bring herself to stay mad at him for long considering that he's been obsessing over this for his whole life basically.

"Um… Anyway, that answers that question and all other questions—unless you got any others-" Suimin would see that Shiina was smiling now. "Heh, I knew that award-winning smile was hiding somewhere."

"Oh, whatever!" Shiina would say in a joking tone.

"Oh WhAtEvEr!" Suimin mocked Shiina once more.

_Preparations end in: 1 minute_

"Now, let's get a move on!" Suimin smiled. "Our first-ever turf war is about to begin!"

"Mhm! Right behind you!" Shiina would shake her head in response.

* * *

The two Inklings would follow the same path that the other Inklings from earlier had taken. They would eventually find the aforementioned cephalopods standing on some platform that flashed a purple color. The charger and slosher were both standing around waiting for the match to begin, not even talking to one another.

_Preparations end in: 30 seconds_

"You'd better get on quick." The charger told Suimin and Shiina. "Wouldn't want you getting left behind now, would we?"

"Oh, definitely not. That'd suck a ton." Suimin would hop up onto the platform. "So… What's your gameplan gonna be? Ya gonna hang around in the backline and try to ink the turf behind us, or are ya thinking of going on the offense and splatting our enemies to cover turf?"

"I generally have an idea of what I want to do for these types of matches." The charger told Suimin. "It all really depends on who we're going up against and what kind of teammates I have."

_Preparations end in: 20 seconds_

The charger analyzed Suimin with his Splat Roller; Shiina, who appeared to be distracted, with her Splattershot Jr.; and the other Inkling with his slosh- "Uh… wait a minute." The charger looked around. "You with the slosher… where exactly is your slosher?"

"... Oh, are you talking to me?" The slosher Inkling realized he was being referred to and pointed to himself. "That's a silly question, my Slosher is-"

The Inkling would begin to gesture to his slosher, only for him to realize that it wasn't there; the room fell silent for a moment. "...OH COD!" The slosher would put his hands on his face in horror. "I left it back in the locker room! Maybe I still have enough time to go and get it before the match starts!"

The Inkling would hop off the platform and bolt out of the room, all while Suimin and Shiina stared and exchanged looks with one another.

_Preparations end in: 10 seconds_

"Well… this is going to be an interesting match." Suimin and Shiina would turn and look at their other team member. "Unless the other team also loses one of their teammates, we're at a handicap."

"Handicap? How is it a handicap?" Shiina questioned. "The match hasn't even started yet-"

_Preparations end in: 3… 2… 1…_

The platform would spring to life from seemingly out of nowhere and quickly elevated off the ground. Shiina almost fell over when the platform started rising; Suimin kept a calm look on his face, although he was feeling elated on the inside; and the charger looked unfazed as if this was normal for her.

The ceiling would open up and reveal partially cloudy orange skies and the setting sun on the horizon. Once the platform reached a certain point, it would come to a complete stop. Now that the Inklings were on a much higher level than they previously were, they could see a stage in the distance; like a plaza of sorts.

"No time to lose, let's get going." The charger would turn away from Suimin and Shiina and transform into a squid not even a second later. The charger would then proceed to super jump all the way over to the stage.

"Uh... " Shiina slowly turned to Suimin. "Suimin-"

"You heard her Shiina, let's get a move on!" Now that it was just the two of them, Suimin was no longer trying to hide his excitement.

Suimin would also turn into a squid and super jump to the stage, following after his charger Inkling teammate. Shiina was now the only one left on the platform, as two of her teammates had already gone on ahead, and the last one was left behind. " _Should I be worried?_ " Shiina would think long and hard on this question. " _...Nah!_ "

Still on the ground from earlier, Shiina would turn into a squid, like everyone else, and follow after her allies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this second chapter, I wanted to get it out much earlier but I ended up getting distracted and... yeah. As I've said before, the next chapter will come out soon, but don't hold your breath. Also, any comments on what you thought about the chapter or how I could improve, while not necessary, would be extremely helpful!
> 
> That's all for now, thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

_ [Stage: The Reef] _

_ [Mode: Turf War (Ink the most turf to win!)] _

_ [Teams: Grape vs. Turquoise] _

Inklings from both teams emerged from their respective spawn platforms. 4 squid kids had emerged from the turquoise platform, while 3 emerged from the grape platform. One similarity between all the participants was the ink tanks that were now present and visible on their backs.

“Yep, I had a feeling they were going to have a full team.” The charger squid exhaled. “We all know how this match is going to end.”

“We sure do.” Suimin wore his signature smirk. “That ending is going to involve the words, “Grape” “Team” “Wins”

“For a roller, you sure are optimistic.” The charger looked at Suimin. “You guys get splatted a lot in these types of matches, but it looks like those past experiences don’t seem to bother you one bit.”

“Guess I’m just built different, heh heh.” The boy chuckled. “But I ain’t scared in the slightest; after all, I have a buddy who’s going to watch my back, right Shiina?”

“ _ Ooh….”  _ The Inkling in question ignored whatever it was that her friend was saying.

Just like before, Shiina wasn’t at all paying attention to the conversation that was happening before her. Shiina was once again distracted by this new place that she found herself in. The Reef reminded Shiina of Inkopolis Square, but with more greenery and less industrialization.

“She’s uh… She’s a little distracted.” Suimin would rub the back of his head and turn back to his charger teammate.

“Oh, really? I couldn’t tell.” The charger would say in a snarky tone.

_ Ready… _

_ Go! _

After a few moments, a loud pop sounded through the entire area that signified that the match had begun. From where they were standing, Grape Team could see the Turquoise Team beginning to ink the turf within their general vicinity.

“Huh? What?” The pop seemed to have snapped Shiina out of the trance that she was in. “Sorry, what’s happening?”

“And with that, the games begin!” Suimin would tighten his grip on his roller and slam it into the ground, flinging a bit of ink in several directions. “Shiina, you’re with me!”

“Eh?”

Before Shiina could ask Suimin any questions, the boy ran off with his roller in hand. Shiina reached her hand out to him tried calling out to him, but he was too far gone by that point.

“And there he goes…” Shiina lowered her hand. “Suimin's going to get himself splatted out there at this rate.”

“Then I would recommend following after him so you could avoid that outcome.” Shiina turned to her other charger teammate. “Then again, it’s going to happen eventually so… instead of “avoiding that outcome” let’s say “delay the inevitable.”

“What’re you going to do?” Shiina didn’t know much about chargers, aside from the fact that they’re long-ranged weapons and not exactly meant for close combat unlike a shooter or a roller.

“You’ll see.” The charger would then motion Shiina. “Now get a move on, you’ve got a partner to save.”

The purple Splattershot Jr. wielding Inkling stared at her ally for a second before shaking her head. Shiina would duck into the ink as a squid and follow the trail of ink Suimin left behind.

* * *

While Shiina was following Suimin’s trail, she did her best to ink as much of the turf around her that was untouched. The girl had yet to see any of Inklings of the opposing team or their ink, but that would change soon.

Shiina would spot Suimin in the distance for a short time before he disappeared into the ink underneath him; but despite vanishing into an ocean of ink, Shiina felt like she knew exactly where Suimin was.

Right as she planned on making her way towards him, something came from behind her and grazed the side of her face. Shiina looked at the ground before her and saw within all of that purple ink, a small green inkblot.

Shiina turned around and saw a boy Inkling with green hair approaching her from behind. This Inkling was wielding the dualies, but Shiina didn’t seem to know what type of dualies they were—what she DID know was that she and the other Inkling had locked eyes with each other, which meant she was in danger.

Shiina would aim her shooter at the dualie Inkling and start firing at him. One thing Shiina seemed to have forgotten was that she was going up against someone using the dualies, so you could probably imagine the look on her face when the Inkling start rolling out of the way of her shots.

“Wha-” Shiina, dumbfounded, lowered her weapon. “You-... YOU CAN DO THAT?!”

Her opponent didn't waste any time answering her question started firing off shots at her. Some of his ink hit Shiina, getting her clothes covered in green ink along with the added effect of blurring her vision by a bit.

The purple Inkling would fire at him again—but soon realized that her shots weren't landing. Shiina’s ink would either miss him completely and cover bits of the area behind him or he would just dodge roll out of the way. At this point, the girl couldn't tell if it was because the boy was good, her weapon was faulty, or she just was bad—Knowing her, it might've been all three.

Seeing that she had gotten no shots on him and he had gotten a couple of shots off on her, Shiina came up with an excellent plan that had a high success rate. “Nope! Not today!” The Inkling would say as she ducked into the ink and swam away from the dualie wielding Inkling.

“What the-?!” The other Inkling would shout before chasing after Shiina. "Get back here!"

Shiina would get into the rhythm of swimming through as much ink as possible before popping up above ground and inking the turf in front of her to create a new path. The dualie Inkling was still in hot pursuit and covered as much of the trail she left behind in ink as possible. Eventually, the Inkling started to throw curling bombs at her in an attempt to cut her off.

Seeing that the Inkling was gaining on her, Shiina hopped off a nearby ledge in her squid form and fell to the level below her. Shiina jumped off, thinking there would be purple ink waiting for her at the bottom. Instead of purple ink waiting for her, she got the complete opposite.

Shiina fell into a pool of green ink and reverted back to her Inkling. Like what had happened earlier when Shiina got shot, her clothes were drenched in green ink and her vision was blurring. On top of that, the green ink was incredibly sticky, which made it hard for her to move.

“ _ Come on Shiina, move! _ ” The Inkling would tell herself and fire at the ground under and in front of her. Shiina moved forward a bit before she heard beeping from behind her. Shiina turned her head a bit and was just barely able to see that the beeping came from a curling bomb. “Uh-oh-”

The curling bomb exploded, sending large globs of ink flying everywhere, including towards Shiina. Shiina was unable to dodge the ink flying at her at 200 miles per hour and took a sustainable amount of damage. At this point, Shiina might as well been blind with how limited her vision was. Shiina could barely make out the dualie wielding boy jumping down from a higher level and onto hers.

Right as the boy was about to splat Shiina, something emerged from one of the ink puddles not too far from the two. Shiina and the dualie turned their heads and see a familiar purple Inkling wielding the roller: “Suimin!”

Suimin made a beeline towards the two, while the dualie took his attention and weapons off Shiina and put it onto Suimin. From the looks of it, Sumin didn't have a chance at getting the splat off since the dualie had a clear advantage. "I swear, you rollers are something-"

The dualie Inkling was cut off prematurely when a stream of purple ink that seemingly popped into existence hit him. Seeing that he was distracted by Suimin, he had no way of telling that the ink was coming for him and evaporated on impact.

Stunned, Shiina and Suimin looked around and eventually spotted their teammate who had her weapon aimed at them. “Heh, nice one!” Suimin would give his teammate a quick thumbs up. The girl stared at them for a second before diving into the ink below and vanishing. "Weird... Anyway, I saw most of that godown. You alright Shi?"

“I’ll manage.” The green ink on Shiina’s body would start to dissipate. “Thank cod you guys came when you did, I would’ve been a goner!”

Suimin extended his hand out to Shiina, who went in to grab it but stopped when she heard a clink come from behind her. Shiina turned her back while Suimin leaned to the side and caught a glimpse of a green splat bomb that looked seconds away from exploding. Shiina, who knew exactly what was about to happen, turned back to Suimin—her lip quivering and her eyes watering. “Run.”

"SHIINA-"

Just like that, she was gone. Splatted. Obliterated. Erased from existence and forced to wander through the astral sea for all of eternity. Shiina sat right in front of Suimin one second ago, only for her to be gone the next. Since the bomb landed behind Shiina, she acted as a shield for Suimin and took the brunt of the explosion, leaving Suimin with little to no damage... at least physically.

Even though it's a game, having to watch his best friend literally be reduced to atoms right in front of him didn’t sit well with Suimin. The Inkling was shocked, but that shock would turn into anger when he saw the Inkling that was responsible for Shiina's departure ducking in and out of their ink in the distance.

“You...” Suimin gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his Splat Roller. “You… squidbagging piece of shit!”

Suimin threw out a curling bomb that went straight towards the Inkling, whose weapon of choice was a blaster that he didn’t care to identify. The roller would then run in a different direction of the curling bomb in an attempt to cut off the blaster, who dodged the bomb and was making a getaway. “Stop running and face me like a squid!” Suimin shouted.

“I don’t have to do that, so I won’t!” The other Inkling shouted back in response. “You can face this though!”

The blaster threw another splat bomb behind him and continued to make his getaway. Suimin ducked into the ink below him and swam out of the bomb’s blast radius. The boy poked his head out from the ink and barely caught the other Inkling climbing up a wall. " _ I’m not letting you get away!” _

Suimin made his way towards the wall, traversing through a maze of purple and green ink. The boy would then leap up out of the ink and swing his roller forward in a vertical motion, flinging ink onto the wall in a long straight vertical line. With this new trail of ink, Suimin would swim up the wall; but upon getting to the top-

“Huh?!”

Waiting for Suimin at the top was the same blaster wielding Inkling, aiming his weapon at Suimin; he wasn’t alone though. Standing next to him was a girl inkling who was holding a splatling and also aiming it at Suimin. Not too far off in the distance, there was even a green charger Inkling who had her sights on Suimin.

The Inkling in question looked at all three Inklings that were standing in front of him and let out a huge sigh. “Sonnuva fish."

_ BWEEEEEP! _

As Suimin prepared for what was about to come, the sound of a whistle rang through the entire. All the other Inklings on the green team lowered their weapons in unison and looked up into the sky. Wondering what they were looking at, Suimin did the same and would notice a blimp with a large electronic display floating in the air. “ _ Wait, is the match over…? _ ” Suimin asked himself. “ _ Already?! _ ”

The display on the blimp turned on and showed a sky view map of the stage, which was covered in a mixture of purple and green ink. Next, two cats appeared on the screen standing on opposite sides of each other, one was clearly bigger than the other.

Underneath the cats was a bar gauge that read GRAPE on one side, and TURQUOISE on the other. Colored ink that represented both sides started to fill the bar but would stop after a few seconds. A moment later, the green ink would shoot over from the right to left and take up a large majority of the bar. The words “TURQUOISE WINS” appeared on the screen in giant letters.

“Wooooo! Yeah, baby, that's what I've been waiting for!” The blaster Inkling exclaimed. “We continue to take those Ws!”

“E-A-Z-Y!” The splatling Inkling hugged her weapon tightly and jumped around. “At this rate, we’ll be able to go pro in no time!”

Suimin would clench his fist and start gritting his teeth once again as he watched the green team pop off about their victory. The boy was about ready to give them a piece of his mind and took a step towards them before something took hold of his wrist. “Huh?” Suimin turned. “Shiina?”

Suimin looked Shiina in the eyes and noticed that she was smiling at him. “Let’s go Suimin,” Shiina gave him a warm smile. “What’s done is done, right?”

Suimin continued to look his friend in the eyes for a moment and then turned back to look at the green team, who had begun walking away. “... What’s done is done.” Suimin relaxed his grip and took a deep breath.

Shiina nodded and would begin walking off in the direction towards the purple team’s spawn platform. “...Are you going to let go of me or…?” Just in case Suimin were to go running after the other team, Shiina kept a tight grip on his wrist while they were walking away.

“Hmm… I’ll think about it~” Shiina hummed.

* * *

Shiina and Suimin walked a bit further and eventually would make it back to their spawn platform. To the duo's surprise, there was someone sitting by the platform waiting for them.

"Welcome back you two." Shiina and Suimin’s charger teammate looked up at them as they approached. "I take it that you saw the results of the match?"

"More like obnoxiously heard the results..." Suimin sighed.

"Not to sound rude or anything, but why are you still here?" Shiina appeared to be a bit confused. "I kinda thought you would've been gone by now."

"Right? I was thinking the same thing." Suimin shook his head in agreement. "Ya seem like the type of gal to disappear when all the fun's over and done with."

"Oh?" The squid girl stood up and put her hand on her hip. "Is that the impression you get from me, country boy?"

"C-c-country boy?!" Suimin stuttered. "How'd ya even-"

Suimin soon realized that he was speaking in a completely different dialect than before. The boy would rip his hand away from Shiina's and cover his mouth. "Shiina!" He snapped towards her. "Why didn't you tell me I was doing the "thing" again?!"

"Huh? Oh um…" Shiina would put her finger on her jaw and look up, indicating that she was thinking. "... Oh yeah I was supposed to do that, huh… whoops!"

"Whoops?!" Suimin yelled. "That's all you have to say?! Just "whoops?!"

"Well sorry, but I forget things when I'm hungry!" Shiina cried. "Speaking of which, we haven't eaten anything since this morning! I don't know how much longer I'll be able to go on for…"

"Well, maybe you wouldn't be so hungry if you had saved those snacks we bought for later!" Suimin would then place a hand on his stomach. "Look what you did, now I'm getting hungry too…"

"You two are hungry?"

Shiina and Suimin would cease their bickering and turn to the girl who was listening in on their conversation. The inkling would move the bandana that covered her mouth down. "I think I can help with that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the latest chapter, I hope you liked it. Writing action scenes aren't particularly my forte, but I honestly think that the ones in this chapter were pretty okay... for my standards anyway.
> 
> Also, thanks again to everyone who has been reading this far. Even though it's small, I'm surprised this story has been getting any hits at all (or even a kudo! Thank you to whoever left that in particular!) It's really encouraging and motivates me to keep on writing.
> 
> That's all from me for now. As per usual, the next chapter will come out soon but don't hold your breath. Thanks for reading.


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